ARMC imaging center celebrates opening

Aiken Regional Medical Centers celebrated the official opening of a new imaging services facility on Aiken's Southside with an open house on Thursday afternoon.

Southside Imaging Center, located at 430 Society Hill Drive in the Village at Woodside, offers the latest imaging technology easily accessible to those who live and work on the Southside.

"That was our goal - to make health care accessible for you all out here," said Lisa Davis, ARMC director of Radiology Services and Rehabilitation Services, at the celebration.

Members of the community, ARMC employees and community leaders, including County Council Chairman Ronnie Young, joined Davis and ARMC CEO Carlos Milanes in cutting a celebratory red ribbon to officially mark the facility's opening.

The new facility will offer open MRI scans for those apprehensive about being in a closed MRI, as well as multi-slice CT scans, digital mammography, diagnostic X-rays and ultrasounds.

The process of opening the 12,000-square-foot building began about three years ago; ARMC broke ground on the facility in January, and patients began receiving services on Nov. 2.

Currently, the facility's first floor houses the imaging services facility, and the remaining 4,000 square feet on the second floor are unoccupied but will be used for future expansions, Davis said.

Southside Imaging Center is staffed by eight employees. The staffing will remain the same during the start-up stages, Davis said, and other employees from ARMC will later have the opportunity to rotate and work in the new facility, he said, adding that the transition to the new facility was a smooth one.

Through the first week and a half of operation, Davis said Southside Imaging Center has received positive feedback from patients.

"This is what Aiken is about; it's about embracing everyone in the community," said Davis. "We had a plan. We wanted to bring health care out to this area. I think we've been successful in this process."

The building's architect, Maryellyn Cannizzaro of Compass 5 Partners, said that she was pleased with the way the building came out and its reception from the community.

"It's a really complicated building that looks very calm, so I'm very pleased with that," she said. She added that her firm worked closely with ARMC, as well as Woodside. Four board-certified radiologists were also active in the facility's planning stages.

In addition to being in a more convenient location for people on the Southside, the new facility will also give area physicians another option where they can refer their patients, Milanes said.

Records and test results that patients previously received at ARMC can be easily accessed by radiologists at the new facility, and patients who would like to begin receiving imaging services at the new facility just need to call, Davis said.

The community is welcome to visit Southside Imaging Center for a tour by calling the facility at 502-5020.

Contact Anna Dolianitis at adolianitis@aikenstandard.com.